Five years before actor-producer Kagiso Modupe’s father died at the age of 70, the elderly man visited the grave of his own dad for the first time. There, he broke down and cried over his deadbeat father, who had abandoned him when he was a young boy to start another family.
Modupe, who was with his father at the grave, describes the visit as the most heart-wrenching thing he’s ever seen. But that memory planted a seed for the equally heartbreaking thriller in which Modupe, 36, and his nine-year-old daughter now star.
Losing Lerato — which was filmed in just seven days — recently bagged its first international recognition when it was named as an “official selection” at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival, which takes place in the US in October.
The film tackles issues such as the custody of children, the law and the psychological effects of absent parents on children.
In the film, a successful young black man kidnaps his daughter, putting them in a high-stakes hostage situation.
“My father only found his dad when he was 65. Even then, he didn’t really find his dad, he was found by his stepbrothers after their dad revealed, on his deathbed, that they had an older brother,” Modupe said.
“For me, watching my dad being led to the grave of his father for the first time was hard. When he got there he broke down. My hero that I’d never seen cry … broke down.”
That memory, together with Modupe’s desire to create a platform to launch his daughter’s acting career and the need to deal with issues that many fathers face when attempting to be present in their children’s lives in a dysfunctional relationship with the mother, inspired the film.
Modupe said he hopes the film ignites much-needed introspection to encourage parents to resolve their issues before they affect their children.
“The film is really about rebuilding a black nation. Black families are falling apart and couples are starting to use the children to fight their personal battles and their own issues and insecurities. We don’t realise what damage we are causing.”
Modupe said his biggest fear was that his daughters would marry broken men as a result of this generation’s failure to work on themselves.
Modupe and his wife of 12 years, Liza Modupe, 32, are parents to Tshimollo, 9, and Motheo, 4.
The actor says his firstborn is a star in the making and that when he saw this, he began training her. He worked with Tshimollo for about a year before shooting, helping her perfect her craft.
“I’m a parent who allows himself to let the children help me grow so I can raise them properly. I allow them to be free and I saw that my daughter has a creative bone. I wasn’t going to be the kind of parent that’s like, ‘Go finish matric first’ while I watch American child stars and be wowed by them. So I wanted to give her an opportunity to explore it, and she made me so proud.”
The self-funded film has a star-studded cast including Black Panther’s Connie Chiume, Thato Molamu, Don Mlangeni, Ayanda Borotho and Mapaseka Koetle. It is set to be released in SA in September.
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